The prior art includes several arrangements for presenting information associated with a television schedule guide. This information is often used to provide an on-screen grid-like display of the available channels along with their related television shows. Usually, a list of available channels are displayed on the y-axis and time slots occupy the x-axis. These listed channels can appear sequentially or in any preferred, predetermined order within the display on the television. U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 is representative of such systems, and has found wide success in the industry. U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 is hereby incorporated by reference.
Many different transmission schemes are available for providing the information required for a television schedule guide. For example, a Direct Broadcast Satellite System (DBS) can provide television programs and television program schedule information via a satellite dish in conjunction with a set-top receiver. DBS systems are commercially available from, for example, Hughes and Primestar. In addition, conventional satellite dishes, coax cable, telephone lines, fibre optic cable, antennae, etc. are used to distribute television program and/or program schedule information.
If DBS is subscribed to by a user, then a separate IRD (integrated receiving decoder) box with an on-screen display generator is usually provided. An IRD box usually includes a receiver and a tuner at the most basic level. A DBS subscriber receives access to potentially hundreds of television channels along with a program guide provided/controlled by the DBS service provider. Unfortunately, a DBS system normally does not receive local network or local independent channels. In order to provide these missing local channels, some DBS receivers are capable of automatically switching between the DBS satellite input and a local input. This is accomplished by placing the IRD box between the television (or a VCR connected to the television) and the local line (local cable or local antennae). When a local channel is selected by the user, the IRD box automatically removes DBS from service and becomes a bypass for the local input. A user can select a local channel either manually or with a remote control. Access to locally available channels is crucial because the majority of prime time viewing is on those local networks.
In contrast, if a user is receiving television channels from both cable and a local antenna sources, then the scenario is different. If the user's television has multiple television input ports, then these two sources can easily be attached to the two input ports. This solution works well as long as the number of sources does not become greater than the number of television input ports.
If the user's television does not have multiple inputs, then a manual switch box attached to the multiple sources and to the television input can be utilized. This solution forces the user to manually switch between one source and another depending on which channel is desired. For example, if the user wants the local news, which is available from the local antennae, and the switch is set to cable, then the user must manually switch from cable to the local antenna. In a society filled with remote controls and automation, this solution is unacceptable to many consumers. Moreover, manually switching between channels becomes more complicated as the number of channel sources is increased.
While the IRD box, multiple television input ports, manual switching unit, etc. provide non-automated and sometimes partial solutions to the above-described problems, a more versatile technique is needed.